The Space Roundup - Sep 12th, 2021
Hello, hello, my dear space lovers!
Hold tight… what a week full of progress and exciting stuff!
3,2,1, 0… lift-off!
Moon updates
Last week we knew that the first launch for the Artemis mission is not going to happen this year due to additional delays, slipping towards spring or summer of 2022, but NASA is still making progress preparing all details for future missions.
Just a few days ago NASA revealed its plan to purchase a commercial rover for the Moon. It must be an electric rover, capable of driving two astronauts for up to 20 kilometers without a recharge, has to be able to be remotely controlled and survive the extremely cold Moon nights. What a challenge! Who will be chosen to build it?
This week we’ve also known that the Chinese Chang’e-5 orbiter is returning to the moon. What for? We don’t know yet! I’ll keep you posted.
Successful launches
This week we’ve witnessed two successful launches: one Chinese, one Russian. China successfully launched a satellite on a Long March-3B rocket and Russia launched a Soyuz 2.1v rocket carrying a satellite for the Russian Ministry of Defense.
ISS updates
Talking about the Russians, after a scary night where smoke alarms were triggered onboard the ISS, two Russian astronauts performed an EVA (Extravehicular Activity) at the International Space Station to make progress integrating the new Nauka module onto the ISS. 9 additional EVAs are needed in total… OMG! That’s a lot of work!
New rockets!
This week we’ve seen progress also on companies building new rockets. After a lot of testing, JAXA’s new H3 rocket is waiting for a final engine certification for its first flight.
ULA’s Vulcan Centaur pathfinder was filled with liquid oxygen for the first time.
and Elon Musk said that SpaceX could fire up the first orbital-class Super Heavy booster next week - WOHOOOO! Progress!
New launch Dates!
Inspiration4, the first all-civilian crewed mission, is launching this week on Thursday. This is so exciting! It truly is a game-changer for the whole space industry, space tourism, space accessibility, and the general public. Thanks to commercial missions like this, space is getting closer and closer for everyone. Truly inspiring. If you haven’t had the chance to watch the Netflix documentary about the mission I really recommend it.
What other launch dates do we have at hand? Well …drum roll … JWST gets a mid-December launch date (finally!). The official launch date is now December 18th. Crossing fingers!
And also (yay, yay, yay!) we have a firm date for the next Falcon Heavy launch: the most powerful rocket in the world! Space Force officials revealed that they're targeting October 9 for the launch. This would be the first launch since June 2019. Amazing!
Money rain!
Three very important contracts and investments this week!
First, Lockheed and Northrop Grumman announced they are going to invest in Orbit Fab, the startup that wants to refuel satellites in space.
Then both Rocket Lab and SpaceX have won multi-million contracts: Rocket Lab won a multi-launch deal for an IoT constellation and SpaceX won a geostationary commsat launch contract. It’s so good to see there’s so much activity in the sector.
Extra!
Last week I shared how the Firefly rocket exploded on its first attempt to reach orbit.
Well, my friend Brett, from howtobearocketscientist.com had the massive privilege to be there in person and he’s shared his experience on his blog. Go have a read because it is a very interesting point of view from the inside: “My first-hand account of the Alpha rocket launch by Firefly Aerospace”.
Pic of the week
The picture of this week was shared by @SpaceHub_SL on Twitter this week. It is the mighty Atlas V during launch. I love pictures like this one!
Launches of the week!
Monday, Sept. 13th -Yaogan-32-02 | Long March 2C / YZ-1S
Tuesday, Sept. 14th - SpaceX Falcon 9 • Starlink 2-1
Tuesday, Sept. 14th - Soyuz • OneWeb 10
Thursday, Sept. 16th - SpaceX Falcon 9 • Inspiration4
And that’s it! If you like the Space Roundup please share it with others and if you want to support the project, please go to Patreon to see available options starting from as little as $3/month.
Cheers from sunny Spain!
Juan, the Curious Astronaut